Alex Powell was a Lansing Catholic High School graduate who was about to fulfill his dream of attending Michigan State University when he was diagnosed with cancer. That diagnosis didn’t stop him from going to MSU, though it was for only a short time before he passed away. Powell is the namesake of Alex’s Great State Race.

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4:31

WKAR's Scott Pohl talks with Juliana Powell about Alex's Great State Race, honoring her son.

This week, the Nobel Prize for Medicine was awarded to three American researchers for their work on internal clocks. The Nobel Foundation announcement praised the trio for their discoveries of molecular mechanisms controlling circadian rhythms. MSU psychology professor Dr. Antonio Nuñez says that a single cell can be a circadian clock.

Some places hit hard by the opioid epidemic are also seeing an increase in sexually transmitted diseases. The New York Times recently reported on the rise of syphilis in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, where officials say the trading of sex for drugs has caused a spike in syphilis cases.

Early detection and treatment is the best path to reducing the severity of autism in children. The opening of the new MSU College of Human Medicine research facility in Grand Rapids this week will include an expansion of efforts to find markers that could result in earlier detection.

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3:56

WKAR's Scott Pohl talks with Dr. Keith English about autism research at the MSU College of Human Medicine research facility opening in Grand Rapids on Wednesday.